Other top actions are using heat pumps; switching from polluting cookstoves (in developing countries) to better methods of cooking, and heating buildings with renewable energy.

Dr Ivanova said that if people implemented the measures, it would save around nine tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per person per year.

Current annual household emissions are around 10 tonnes in the UK, and 17 in the US.

'Valuable' study

The study, out soon in the journal Environmental Research Letters, says the following are worthwhile, but of lesser benefit to the climate: green roofs; using less paper; buying more durable items; turning down the thermostat - and recycling, which saves 0.01 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, according to Dr Ivanova.

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Reuters

Image caption
Outside of lockdown, taking fewer flights can make a major contribution to cutting carbon

Some of the findings will be questioned. Polls suggest some people think climate is as important as the virus, for instance, but some don’t.

Professor Tommy Wiedmann from the University of New South Wales in Australia, said: “This is a valuable study. But it only looks at the carbon footprint and not at other impacts like water scarcity because of lithium mining for electric car batteries.